Lecture on principles of modernism

Principles of theories of the

th 20

Century

starting points of modernism from CIAM congresses, functionalism, structuralism, conceptualism, substantial harmony

„modernism, functionalism, structuralism, conceptualism, neoplasticism“

Key words

„Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Miese van der Rohe, J.J.P. Oud, Hans Scharoun, Piet Mondrian, G. Rietveld, Theodor W. Adorno“

Key personalities

MODERNISM •

Rejecting ornament and embracing minimalism, Modernism became the single most important new style or philosophy of architecture and design of the 20th century.

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It was associated with an analytical approach to the function of buildings, a strictly rational use of (often new) materials, structural innovation and the elimination of ornament.

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It was also known as International Modernism or International Style, after an exhibition of modernist architecture in America in 1932 by the architect Philip Johnson.

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WIESSENHOF ESTATE STUTTGART, 1927

Ludwig Miese van der Rohe was in charge of this project and he was the one to select the architects, coordinated their entries and prepared the site.

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He created the volume study - 21 houses that included 63 apartments.

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The architectural avan garde of the time under the artistic leadership of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe wanted to use these innovative approaches to counter the lack of living space. The plan was to create lo cost homes using industrially manufactured materials, typological components and modular designs.

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17 international architects, including Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Hans Scharoun, experimented with oor plans, designs, materials and home technology.

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In just four and a half months, 21 model buildings with 60 residential units were created. With a clear and sober layout, each home had central heating, a bathroom and toilet as well as a kitchen with gas appliances.

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(Also view Baba (villa colony in Prague) - Czech example of modernistic living e.g. Weissenhof, conception was created by Czech architect Pavel Janák)

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Weissenhof estate is a housing estate built for Deutscher Werkbund exhibition in Stuttgart in 1927.

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„“Two completely different types of houses were presented in Stuttgart.

One corresponded to a new expression of life, freed from arti cial restrictions.”

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- Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier’s House

Weissenhof estate

Pavel Janák, Praha, His own house

Osada Baba

„Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne“

CIAM CONFERENCES •

1928, CIAM I, La Sarraz, Switzerland, Foundation of CIAM

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1929, CIAM II, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on The Minimum Dwelling

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1930, CIAM III, Brussels, Belgium, on Rational Land Development (Rationelle Bebauungsweisen)

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1933, CIAM IV, Athens, Greece, on The Functional City (Die funktionelle Stadt)

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1937, CIAM V, Paris, France, on Dwelling and Recovery

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1947, CIAM VI, Bridgwater, England, Reaf rmation of the aims of CIAM

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1949, CIAM VII, Bergamo, Italy, on The Athens Charter in Practice

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1951, CIAM VIII, Hoddesdon, England, on The Heart of the City

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1953, CIAM IX, Aix-en-Provence, France, on Habitat

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1956, CIAM X, Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia (now Croatia), on Habitat

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1959, CIAM XI, Otterlo, the Netherlands, organized dissolution of CIAM by Team 10

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CIAM I - LA SARRAZ • Starting the exhibition in Stuttgart engineers responsible for the project documentation met and decided to cooperate and share their opinion and experience

• It was Le Corbusier’s thought, with help from Swiss friends he organized a meeting of 28 European architects to judge the ways of supporting modern architecture

• Participants decided to form an organization called CIAM and called their rst meeting CIAM 1. They formed a brief manifesto.

• The undersigned architects, representing the national groups of modern architects, af rm their unity of viewpoint regarding the fundamental conceptions of architecture and their professional obligations towards society.

• Animated by this conviction, they declare themselves members of an association and will give each other mutual support on the international plane with a view to realizing their aspirations morally and materially.

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• Important aspect is urbanism: • 2. This order includes three functions: (a) dwelling, (b) producing, (c) relaxation (the maintenance of the species).

• Its essential objects are: (a) division of the soil, (b) organization of traf c, (c) legislation.

• 3. The relationships between the inhabited areas, the cultivated areas (including sports) and the traf c areas are dictated by the economic and social environment. The xing of population densities establishes the indispensable classi cation.

• The chaotic division of land, resulting from sales, speculations, inheritances, must be abolished by a collective and methodical land policy.

• The redistribution of the land, the indispensable preliminary basis for any town planning, must include

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the just division between the owners and the community of the unearned increment resulting from works of joint interest.

CIAM’s La Sarraz Declaration (1928) •

Translated by Michael Bullock. From Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture. The MIT Press. Cambridge, MA: 1971).

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The undersigned architects, representing the national groups of modern architects, af rm their unity of viewpoint regarding the fundamental conceptions of architecture and their professional obligations towards society.

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They insist particularly on the fact that “building” is an elementary activity of man intimately linked with evolution and the development of human life. The destiny of architecture is to express the orientation of the age. Works of architecture can spring only from the present time.

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They therefore refuse categorically to apply in their working methods means that may have been able to illustrate past societies; they af rm today the need for a new conception of architecture that satis es the spiritual, intellectual, and material demands of present-day life. Conscious of the deep disturbances of the social structure brought about by machines, they recognize that the transformation of the economic order and of social life inescapably brings with it a corresponding transformation of the architectural phenomenon.

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The intention that brings them together here is to attain the indispensable and urgent harmonization of the elements involved by replacing architecture on its true plane, the economic, and sociological plane. Thus architecture must be set free from the sterilizing grip of the academies that are concerned with preserving the formulas of the past.

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Animated by this conviction, they declare themselves members of an association and will give each other mutual support on the international plane with a view to realizing their aspirations morally and materially.

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I. General Economic System

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II. Town Planning

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III. Architecture and Public Opinion

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IV. Architecture and Its Relations with the State

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The Declaration was signed by the following architects: H.P. Berlage, Victor Bourgeois, Pierre Chareau, Josef Frank, Gabriel Guévrékian, Max Ernst Haefeli, Hugo Häring, Arnold Höchel, Huib Hoste, Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier, André Lurçat, Sven Markelius, Ernst May, Fernando García Mercadal, Hannes Meyer, Werner Max Moser, Carlo Enrico Rava, Gerrit Rietveld, Alberto Sartoris, Hans Schmidt, Mart Stam, Rudolf Steiger, Szymon Syrkus, Henri-Robert von der Mühll, Juan de Zavala

CIAM 2 - FRANKFURT AM MAIN •

Next year CIAM II took place in Frankfurt am Main. The topic was The Minimum Dwelling. This congress explained the rules of minimal apartments, that are sanitary and satisfactory in standard of living. These disposition plans were and still are widely used. (Lecture 1)

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CIAM 3 - BRUSSELS • In year 1930 CIAM III was organized in Brussel.

• The theme was Rational Land Development.

• The admired case studies were Dammerstock in Karlsruhe and Berlin’s Haselhorst, designed by Gropius based on his winning architectural competition projects, that included very consistent geometrically built-up areas.

• It was a beginning of examplary colonies, designed by CIAM architects, e.g. Rotterdam - De Stilj, social housing sympathizer J.P.P. Oud. In Prague we could mention social apartment area Zelená Liška in Pankrác based of regulation plan created by Pavel Janák.

• Brussel’s CIAM refused traditional enclosed city blocks, minimal courtyards and corridor streets. It stated that only linear modernist structures can grant enough direct sunlight and ventilation and also best possible orientation towards cardinal directions and enough greenery around the apartment buildings.

• Meetings in Frankfurt and Brussels in uenced architectural and urban work in this era. The CIAM general secretary Sigfried

Giedion stated that as the ways of building are determined by the design of every single apartment, so is the organization of a town is in uenced by the way of building.

• After that there was CIAM 4 which led to forming Athen’s chart.

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CIAM 4 - ATHEN’S CHART • It originally was supposed to take place in 1932 with the theme - The Functionalist city.

From the beginning it was chosen to happen in Moscow. Everybody was interested in new socialist cities and it was expected that the participants of the congress would share their opinions on the Moscow masterplan, which had been in the making.

• During the preparations, because of the political changes, the Soviet Union turned away from modern art.

• Finally the congress took place in Athens in 1933. As chairman was elected Cornelis van Eesteren who was city architect of Amsterdam in that day.

• As a case study was chosen masterplan of Amsterdam, exemplary documentation of functional city.

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The term functional town means that the form is determined by its primal functions - living, work and recreation, including transport as a connecting element.

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We aim to set down basic principles and executive possibilities of a functional town. For that it is necessary to collect knowledge about temporary state and make it comparable with uni ed statements.

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The papers should contain critical analysis of existing cities and their surroundings aiming to:

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Evaluate urban experience

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Higlight relationships between the form of the city and its economic and other functions

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Manage relationships, function and elements of the city

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Formulate, precise and give reasons for our requirements

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The knowledge of the chart, its practical application and the following critique was mostly about these three points contained in the declaration from La Sarraz:

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76. The four keys to urban planning are the four functions of the city: dwelling, work, recreation (use of leisure time), transportation.

77. The city plan sould [sic] determine the internal structure and the interrelated positions in the city of each sector of the four key functions.

78. The plan should ensure that the daily cycle of activities between the dwelling, workplace and recreation (recuperation) can occur with the utmost economy of time. The dwelling should be considered as the prime center of all urban planning, to which all other functions are attached.

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The chart refused ways of building in industrial cities in 19th century, where all functions intertwined.

And also the city block structures. Cities were to be divided into functional city zones isolated by greenery.

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The functional town was criticized for its sterility and schematism, mostly when the term function was reduced to the form and technical infrastructure.

I. THE CITY IN ITS REGIONAL SETTING

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1. The city is only a part of the economic, social and political entity which constitutes the region.

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2. Economic, social and political values are juxtaposed with the psychological and physiological attributes of the human being, raising problems of the relations between the individual and the community. Life can only expand to the extent that accord is reached between these two opposing forces: the individual and the community.

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3. Psychological and biological constants are in uenced by the environment: its geographic and topographic situation as well as its economic and political situation. The geographic and topographic situation is of prime importance, and includes natural elements, land and water, ora, soil, climate, etc.

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4. Next comes the economic situation, including the resources of the region and natural or manmade means of communication with the outside world.

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5. Thirdly comes the political situation and the system of government and administration.

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6. Special circumstances have, throughout history, determined the character of individual cities: military defense, scienti c discoveries, different administrations, the progressive development of communications and methods of transportation (road, water, rail, air).

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7. The factors which govern the development of cities are thus subject to continual change.

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8. The advent of the machine age has caused immense disturbances to man’s habits, place of dwelling and type of work; an uncontrolled concentration in cities, caused by mechanical transportation, has resulted in brutal and universal changes without precendent [sic] in history. Chaos has entered into the cities.

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ATHENS CHART MANIFESTO

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II. THE FOUR FUNCTIONS OF THE CITY

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A. Dwelling

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9. The population density is too great in the historic, central districts of cities as well as in some nineteenth century areas of expansion: densities rise to 1000 and even 1500 inhabitants per hectare (approximately 400 to 600 per acre).

10. In the congested urban areas housing conditions are unhealthy due to insuf cient space within the dwelling, absence of useable green spaces and neglected maintenance of the buildings (exploitation based on speculation). This situation is aggravated by the presence of a population with a very low standard of living, incapable of initiating ameliorations (mortality up to 20 per cent).

11. Extensions of the city devour, bit by bit, its surrounding green areas; one can discern the successive rings of development. This ever greater separation from natural elements heightens the harmful effects of bad sanitary conditions.

12. Dwellings are scattered throughout the city without consideration of sanitary requirements.

13. The most densely populated districts are in the least favorable situations (on unfavorable slopes, invaded by fog or industrial emanations, subject to ooding, etc.)

14. Low indensity developments (middle income dwellings) occupy the advantageous sites, sheltered from unfavorable winds, with secure views opening onto an agreeable countryside, lake, sea, or mountains, etc. and with ample air and sunlight.

15. This segregation of dwellings is sanctioned by custom, and by a system of local authority regulations considered quite justi able: zoning.

16. Buildings constructed alongside major routes and around crossroads are unsuitable for dwellings because of noise, dust and noxious gases.

17. The traditional alignment of houses along the sides of roads means that good exposure to sunlight is only possible for a minimum number of dwellings.

18. The distribution of community services related to housing is arbitrary.

19. Schools, in particular, are frequently sited on busy traf c routes and too far from the houses they serve.

20. Suburbs have developed without plans and without well organized links with the city.

21. Attempts have been made too late to incorporate suburbs within the administrative unit of the city.

22. Suburbs are often merely an agglomeration of hutments where it is dif cult to collect funds for the necessary roads and services.

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IT IS RECOMMENDED

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23. Residential areas should occupy the best places in the city from the point of view of typography, climate, sunlight and availability of green space.

24. The selection of residential zones should be determined on grounds of health.

25. Reasonable densities should be imposed related both to the type of housing and to the conditions of the site.

26. A minimum number of hours of sunlight should be required for each dwelling unit.

27. The alignment of housing along main traf c routes should be forbidden [sic] 28. Full use should be made of modern building techniques in constructing highrise apartments.

29. Highrise apartments placed at wide distances apart liberate ground for large open spaces.

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35. All residential areas should be provided with suf cient open space to meet reasonable needs for recreation and active sports for children, adolescents and adults.

36. Unsanitary slums should be demolished and replaced by open space. This would ameliorate the surrounding areas.

37. The new open spaces should be used for well-de ned purposes: children’s playgrounds, schools, youth clubs and other community buildings closely related to housing.

38. It should be possible to spend week-end free time in accessible and favorable places.

39. These should be laid out as public parks, forests, sports grounds, stadiums, beaches, etc.

40. Full advantages should be taken of existing natural features: rivers, forests, hills, mountains, valleys, lakes, sea, etc.

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IT IS RECOMMENDED

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30. Open spaces are generally insuf cient.

31. When there is suf cient open space it is often badly distributed and, therefore not readily usable by most of the population.

32. Outlying open spaces cannot ameliorate areas of downtown congestion.

33. The few sports elds, for reasons of accessibility, usually occupy sites earmarked for future development for housing or industry: which makes for a precarious existance [sic] and their frequent displacement.

34. Land that could be used for week-end leisure is often very dif cult of access [sic].

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B. Recreation

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• C. Work • 41. Places of work are no longer rationally distributed within the urban complex. This comprises industry, workshops, of ces,

government and commerce.

42. Connections between dwelling and place of work are no longer reasonable: they impose excessively long journeys to work.

43. The time spent in journeying to work has reached a critical situation.

44. In the absence of planning programs, the uncontrolled growth of cities, lack of foresight, land speculation, etc. have caused industry to settle haphazardly, following no rule.

45. Of ce buildings are concentrated in the downtown business district which, as the most privileged part of the city, served by the most complete system of communications, readily falls prey to speculation. Since of ces are private concerns effective planning for their best development is dif cult.

• IT IS RECOMMENDED • 46. Distances between work places and dwelling places should be reduced to a minimum.

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47. Industrial sectors should be separated from residential sectors by an area of green open space.

48. Industrial zones should be contiguous with railroads, canals and highways.

49. Workshops, which are intimately related to urban life, and indeed derive from it, should occupy well designed [sic] areas in the interior of the city.

50. Business districts devoted to administration both public and private, should be assured of good communications with residential areas as well as with industries and workshops within the city and upon its fringes.

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59. Traf c analyses be made, based on accurate statistics, to show the general pattern of circulation in the city and its region, and reveal the location of heavily travelled [sic] routes and the types of their traf c.

60. Transportation routes should be classi ed according to their nature, and be designed to meet the rrquirements [sic] and speeds of speci c types of vehicles.

61. Heavily used traf c junctions should be designed for continuous passage of vehicles, using different levels.

62. Pedestrian routes and automobile routes should follow separate paths.

63. Roads should be differentiated according to their functions: residential streets, promenades, through roads, major highways, etc.

64. In principle, heavy traf c routes should be insulated by green belts.

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IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT

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51. The existing network of urban communications has arisen from an agglomeration of the aids [sic] roads of major traf c routes. In Europe these major routes date back well into the middle ages [sic], sometimes even into antiquity.

52. Devised for the use of pedestrians and horse drawn vehicles, they are inadequate for today’s mechanized transportation.

53. These inappropriate street dimensions prevent the effective use of mechanized vehicles at speeds corresponding to urban pressure.

54. Distances between crossroads are too infrequent.

55. Street widths are insuf cient. Their widening is dif cult and often ineffectual.

56. Faced by the needs of high speed [sic] vehicles, present the apparently irrational street pattern lacks ef ciency and exibility, differentiation and order [sic].

57. Relics of a former pompous magni cence designed for special monumental effects often complicate traf c circulation.

58. In many cases the railroad system presents a serious obstacle to well planned urban development. It barricades off certain residential districts, depriving them from easy contact with the most vital elements of the city.

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D. Transportation

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E. Legacy of History

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IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT:

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65. Fine architecture, whether individual buildings or groups of buildings, should be protected from demolition.

66. The grounds for the preservation of buildings should be that they express an earlier culture and that their retention is in the public interest.

67. But their preservation should no [sic] entail that people are obliged to live in unsalubrius [sic] conditions.

68. If their present location obstructs development, radical measures may be called for, such as altering major circulation routes or even shifting existing central districts – something usually considered impossible.

69. The demolition of slums surrounding historic monuments provides an opportunity to create new open spaces.

70. The re-use of past styles of building for new structures in historic areas under the pretext of assthetics [sic] has disastrous consequences. The continuance or the introduction of such habits in any form should not be tolerated.

• III. CONCLUSIONS • 71. Most of the cities studied present an image of chaos. They do not correspond in any way to their ultimate purpose: to satisfy the basic biological and physiological needs of their inhabitants.

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72. The irresponsibility of private enterprise has resulted in a disastrous rupture of the equilibrium between strong economic forces on one side and, on the other, weak administrative controls and powerless social interests.

73. Although cities are constantly changing, their development proceeds without order or control and with no attempt to apply contemporary town planning principles, such as have been speci ed in professionally quali ed circles.

74. The city should assure both individual liberty and the bene ts of collective action on both the spiritual and material planes.

75. The dimensions of everything wi thin [sic] the urban domain should relate to the human scale.

76. The four keys to urban planning are the four functions of the city: dwelling, work, recreation (use of leisure time), transportation.

77. The city plan sould [sic] determine the internal structure and the interrelated positions in the city of each sector of the four key functions.

78. The plan should ensure that the daily cycle of activities between the dwelling, workplace and recreation (recuperation) can occur with the utmost economy of time. The dwelling should be considered as the prime center of all urban planning, to which all other functions are attached.

79. The speeds of mechanized transportation have disrupted the urban setting, presenting an ever-present danger, obstructing or paralyzing communications and endangering health.

80. The principle of urban and suburban circulation must be revised. A classi cation of acceptable speeds must be established. A reformed type of zoning must be set up that can bring the key functions of the city into a harmonious relationship and develop connections between them. These connections can then be developed into a rational network of major highways.

81. Town planning is a science based on three dimensions, not on two. This introduces the element of height which offers the possibility of freeing spaces for modern traf c circulation and for recreational purposes.

82. The city should be examined in the context of its region of in uence. A plan for the total economic unit – the city-region – must replace the simple master plan of a city.

83. The city should be able to grow harmoniously as a functioning urban unity in all its different parts, by means of preordained open spaces and connecting links, but a state of equilibrium should exist at every stage of its development.

84. It is urgently necessary for every city to prepare a planning program indicating what laws will be needed to bring the plan to realization.

85. The planning program must be based on rigorous analytical studies carried out by specialists. It must foresee its stages of development in time andspace [sic]. It must coordinate the natural resources of the site, its topographic advantages, its economic assets, its social needs and its spiritual aspirations.

86. The architect engaged in town planning should determine everything in accordance with the human scale.

87. The point of departure for all town planning should be the single dwelling, or cell, and its grouping into neighborhood units of suitable size.

88. With these neighborhood units as the basis, the urban complex can be designed to bring out the relations between dwelling, places of work and places devoted to recreation.

89. The full resources of modern technology are needed to carry out this tremendous task. This means obtaining the cooperation of specialists to enrich the art of building by the incorporation of scienti c innovations.

90. The progress of these developments will be greatly in uenced by political, social and economic factors. . . [sic] 91. And not, in the last resort, by questions of architecture.

92. The magnitude of the urgent task of renovating the cities, and the excessive subdivision of urban land ownerships present two antagonistic realities.

93. This sharp contradiction poses one of the most serious problems of our time: the pressing need to regulate the disposition of land on an equitable and legal basis, so as to meet the vitalneeds of the

• CIAM had revolutionized Urban Planning, at a stage invoking a special stream of study

rst founded in Harvard by the US branch. The thoughts and ideologies on framing the cities are used in whole or part to design cities and buildings. The functionalist and socialist approach discarded all barriers, providing a large-scale utopia of cities along with roadmaps on how to move away from the historical city centers. Townships, campuses and cities were the most in uenced design typologies inspired by published works, theorization as well as built structures which reminiscent of the modernist era.

• The history of Architecture has rarely seen such a forward-minded, enthusiastic group of people who came together despite the odds to frame and discuss how architecture is, and idealized it, leading to a movement leading to the change in how people and professionals view buildings forever.

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• The everlasting change brought in by CIAM

FUNCTIONALISM •

Functionalism, in architecture, the doctrine that the form of a building should be determined by practical considerations such as use, material, and structure, as distinct from the attitude that plan and structure must conform to a preconceived picture in the designer’s mind.

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Although Functionalism is most closely associated with modern architecture (and to some extent with modern furniture), it is by no means an exclusively modern conception. Apart from the fact that even the most fanciful architecture has practical functions to ful ll, there have been times in the past when functional considerations have been unusually dominant, and the artistic character of the buildings of such times has been directly derived from the way the challenge of function has been met. Historical European examples include the military architecture of the early Middle Ages, certain periods of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture, and much of the industrial and commercial architecture of the 19th century. The expression “the functional tradition” is applied to this emphasis on functionalism, which appears and reappears throughout the history of architecture independently of changes in style.

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• Barcelona Pavilion • An example that implies functionalism in regards to simple beauty and the use of raw materials, should be the Barcelona Pavilion. Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe designed the pavilion in a minimalistic style that is devoid of any ornamentation or decoration to deliver the importance of functional elements in a space and reveal the ‘true essence of architecture’.

• The free plan with the fewer walls and the openness of the spaces blurs the boundary between interior spaces and the exterior. He also retained the purity of materials used – marble, travertine, steel and chrome, glass to create a tranquil environment.

He incorporated functionalism in the form of views as to what the human eye would see within this pavilion, to give a visual experience to the users in this pavilion.

• Villa Savoye | Functionalism Architecture • Le Corbusier designed the Villa Savoye that represented a machine-like structure to acknowledge the

technological innovation of the time. Clean lines and minimalism were designed as a need to justify architecture, rather than just decorating and ornamenting them. Each part of the building was designed only for needs because Corbusier followed the idea of ‘form follows function’. He also implemented his strategies of ‘ ve points of architecture’ which demonstrates his saying – ‘A house is a machine for living’, i.e.,

• Pilotis – piers elevating the building from the ground to preserve the garden space beneath the building, • Flat roof terrace – or a functional roof to serve as a garden and terrace, • iii. Open plan – a functional plan, where walls are placed only where needed either functionally or to separate visual connections,

• Ribbon windows – for illumination and ventilation, and

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• Free facade – designed minimalistic to serve only as an enclosure.

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Unité d’Habitation

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Unité d’Habitation was another important experiment by Le Corbusier demonstrating functionalism architecture. He applied the same strategies of ‘Five Points of Architecture’ to serve the functionalism theories, i.e.,

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i.Pilotis that provide a free circulation space beneath

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ii.Functional roof terrace which houses communal areas like swimming pool, gymnasium, jogging track, kindergarten, and exhibition space. The roof also provided unobstructed views of the Mediterranean and Marseille city.

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iii. Free facade achieved by designing a column-based structure that also allows for windows throughout the facades.

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Long strips of windows for ventilation and light.

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Open plan – offers large corridor spaces.

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Corbusier highly acknowledged the idea of designing urban facilities like shops, restaurants, bookshops, and educational and medical facilities into the building to satisfy the everyday functional needs of the residents.

“Function” came to be seen as encompassing all criteria of the use, perception, and enjoyment of a building, not only the practical aspects but also aesthetic, psychological, and cultural.

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Modern architecture is generally characterized by simpli cation of form and by the creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building.

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In the early stages of Modern architecture, “decoration is a crime” was a popular motto.

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Key Terms

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Louis Sullivan: (1856–1924) An American architect who has been called the “father of skyscrapers” and “father of modernism.” He is considered by many to be the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an in uential architect, critic of the Chicago School, and a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright.

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Bauhaus School: A school in Germany that combined crafts and the ne arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933.

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Deutscher Werkbund: A German association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists. The Werkbund was to become an important event in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus School of design.

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Key Points

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• Reactions on functionalism • Frederic Késler : In architecture, the modern functionalism is dead. If the term

function survives without closely examining the material world, from which it derives, then it collapses and is wearied in the mysticism of Hygiene and Estetization. I put the reality of the magical architecture against the mysticism of hygiene.

• Christian Norberg-Schulz: The interest of functionalism in the form of building

more than abstract organization led to projecting cities and not just abstract planning. Functionalist urbanism really shew us and attempt of solving problems, while nowadays urban planning is reduced to placing investments, which is leading us to forget that the main goal is to build a good environment for people.

NEOPLASTICSM- DE STILJ •

The De Stijl Design Movement (also known as Neoplasticism) originated in Holland in 1917.

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De Stijl promoted a style of design based on a limit range of colours (primary colors, red, yellow, and blue), used in conjunction with a combination of horizontal and vertical lines.

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Each part of the design / product are each regarded as a single aspect of the design / product, one of several parts. Each part should stand out.

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De Stijl’s true origin can be traced back to Cubism. Also, the artwork of Piet Mondrian greatly in uenced the De Stijl colour scheme. He became one of the leading advocists of the art movement.

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The style developed during World War One, when the Dutch were neutral. This meant that Dutch designers and artists were unable to travel to countries involved in the war. Out of this ‘solitude’, a painter called Theo van Doesburg established a journal called ‘De Stijl’ (translates to mean ‘The Style’). The journal promoted De Stijl as a new, modernist Art Movement.

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The philosophy considers that design should focus on indispensable features and that any unnecessary detail or ornamentation should be removed.

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Design should be in equilibrium. Members of the De Stijl movement were passionate about collaborating with other art / design movements and other styles. They also considered it important, that their design philosophy, should enter into every aspect of their lives.

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The De Stijl movement aimed to produce art / designs that were precise and accurate, representing the ‘exactness’ and ‘ef ciency’ of the machine. Nature was eradicated from the nal design.

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This can be seen in Gerrit Rietveld’s ‘Red Blue’ chair (1917-1918), which represents the De Stijl criteria, for product design. The chair was originally left with a natural wood nish, but was later nished according to the strict De Stijl colour criteria.

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The De Stijl philosophy believed that aesthetics can be achieved through a combination of function, primary colours, in addition to black and white horizontal and vertical lines.

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De Stijl (Neoplasticism) inspired architecture, as seen in ‘The Rietveld Schröder House’ in Utrecht, Holland (built in 1924), designed by Gerrit Rietveld. It was a radical design for the 1920s.

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The furniture and ttings were all in the De Stijl style. Mrs Schröder, a bankers widow, lived in the house for sixty years.

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The house has many similarities to the Bauhaus style, although it is asymetrical. The two storey building has separate rooms downstairs.

Upstairs it is an open space, with moveable panels to allow the layout to be altered as required. The space can become a bedroom or a living room, depending on the needs at time of use.

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Piet Mondrian

J.J.P. Oud, Amsterdam, Café de unie

Gerrit Rietveld, Utrecht, Schroder House

STRUCTURALISM •

Structuralism is an architectural and urban planning movement that developed in the mid-20th century. The lifeless expression of Rationalism in urban planning gave rise to this movement. Structuralism pays attention to changes in user functions, characterized by the modular designs as part of a larger coherent whole having the ability to accommodate the changes in functionality. The movement also includes implementing space-structuring constructions, which promotes the honest utilization of the given materials. It also comprises the particular notice to transitions on the inside and outside of the establishment. Aside from that, Structuralism emphasizes the experiences, the individual’s ability to recognize his workspace, the liveability of the establishment, its extensibility, and exibility.

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Structuralism has an exceedingly vast scope. The approach of Structuralism may be applied to different texts like some headline in the newspaper, a street sign, script, legal contract, or reports. It may also apply to various establishments like sheds, iconic buildings, of ce blocks, or even a whole city. Most establishments that we now occupy may be in uenced by Structuralism.

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THE ORIGIN OF STRUCTURALISM

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After World War II, Structuralism in architecture and urban planning began to emerge in society. It originated in the Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM), also known as International Congresses in Modern Architecture. CIAM was an organization that provides a platform for urbanism and architecture. Many groups that have different views regarding architecture were part of the CIAM. There were Rationalists, and there were people who think of architecture as a form of art. Team 10 was also a member. There were also advocates of high and low-rise establishments and many other groups. The famous group, Team 10, was active in the organization. And, their in uence gave birth to two various movements: The New Brutalism of the English architects and the Structuralism of the Dutch architects.

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• Structuralism is a theoretical paradigm emphasizing that elements of culture must be understood in terms of their relationship

to a larger, overarching system or structure." – Alternately, as summarized by philosopher Simon Blackburn: "Structuralism is the belief that phenomena of human life are not intelligible except through their interrelations. These relations constitute a structure, and behind local variations in the surface phenomena there are constant laws of abstract culture.”

• Otterlo Congress – participants • Some presentations and discussions that took place during the Otterlo Congress in 1959 are seen as the beginning of

Structuralism in architecture and urbanism. These presentations had an international in uence. In the book CIAM '59 in Otterlo[20] the names of the 43 participating architects are listed. While the term structuralism in architecture was published for the rst time in 1969.

• Aldo van Eyck, Amsterdam / Louis Kahn, Philadelphia / Kenzo Tange, Tokyo • In Structuralism, one differentiates between a structure with a long life cycle and in lls with shorter life cycles. - H. Herzberger • Many Structuralists would describe a structure roughly in the following terms: it is a complete set of relationships, in which the

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elements can change, but in such a way that these remain dependent on the whole and retain their meaning. The whole is independent of its relationship to the elements. The relationships between the elements are more important than the elements themselves. The elements are interchangeable, but not the relationships. - H. Herzberzger

• Built structures corresponding in form to social structures (Working group for the investigation of interrelationships between social and built structures).

• The archetypical behaviour of man as the origin of architecture (cf. Anthropology, Claude Lévi-

Strauss). Different Rationalist architects had contacts with groups of the Russian Avant-Garde after World War I. They believed in the idea that man and society could be manipulated.

• Coherence, growth and change on all levels of the urban structure. The concept of a Sense of place.

Tokens of identi cation (identifying devices). Urban Structuring and Articulation (of the built volume).

• Polyvalent form and individual interpretations (compare the concept of langue et parole by

Ferdinand de Saussure). User Participation in housing. Integration of "high" and "low" culture in architecture ( ne architecture and everyday forms of building). Pluralistic architecture.

• The principle Structure and In ll remains relevant until now, both for housing schemes and urban

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planning.

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1. Structures formed of building units

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2. Structures formed of building groups

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3. Structures formed of structural units

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4. Structures formed of communication units (vertical units, horizontal units)

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5. Other structures (without grid)

Kurokawa, Tokyo, Capsule tower

Louis Kahn, San Diego, La Jolla Salk Institute

Aldo van Eyck, Amsterdam, Orphanage

Eissenman, Berlin, Memorial to the murdered Jews

CONCEPTUALISM • Conceptual art is de ned by concepts or ideas taking precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns.

• Conceptual art emerged as a movement during the 1960s. In part, it was a reaction against formalism articulated by the in uential New York art critic Clement Greenberg.

• Some have argued that conceptual art continued this dematerialization of art by removing the need for objects altogether, while others, including many of the artists themselves, saw conceptual art as a radical break with Greenberg’s formalist modernism.

• French artist Marcel Duchamp paved the way for the conceptualists, providing examples of prototypically conceptual works such as his ready-mades.

• Conceptual artists began a far more radical interrogation of art than was previously possible. One of the rst and most important things they questioned was the common assumption that the role of the artist was to create special kinds of material objects.

• Conceptual architecture is a form of architecture that utilizes conceptualism, characterized by an introduction of ideas or

concepts from outside of architecture often as a means of expanding the discipline of architecture. This produces an essentially different kind of building than one produced by the widely held 'architect as a master-builder' model, in which craft and construction are the guiding principles. In conceptual architecture, the nished building as product is less important than the ideas guiding them, ideas represented primarily by texts, diagrams, or art installations.

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ADORNO ON CONCEPTUALISM •

In the Metacritique of Epistemology Adorno writes : "Idealism was the rst to make clear that the reality in which men live is not unvarying and independent of them. Its shape is human and even absolutely extra-human nature is mediated through consciousness".[1]

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This looks like a straight forwardly idealist commitment. An uncontroversial de nition of idealism provided by Nicholas Rescher I think makes that clear :[Idealism is] the philosophical doctrine that reality is somehow mindcorrelative or mind-co-ordinated - that the real objects comprising the '"external world" are not independent of cognizing minds, but only exist as in some way correlative to the mental operations. The doctrine centres on the conception that reality as we understand it re ects the workines of minds.[2]

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It is obvious enough from numerous comments and arguments that Adorno is not recommending a return to a subjective idealism, a form, that is, of ontological idealism. For example, Adorno takes issue with the constitution thesis of subjective idealism which holds that the "subject's" activities are fundamentally unconstrained by objectivity. Against such a claim, Adorno argues that our determinations of the object "will adjust to a moment which they themselves are not... The active de nition is not something purely subjective; hence the triumph of the sovereign subject which dictates its laws to nature is a hollow triumph".[3]

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Instead for Adorno the endorsement of idealism is to be limited to the notion of the human character of our experience, the reality in which we live. In fact, Adorno"s commitment to idealism resembles that of a conceptual idealism, a key characteristic of which Rescher describes as follows : "Our knowledge of fact always re ects the circumstances of its being a human artefact. It is always formed through the use of mind-made and indeed mind-invoking conceptions and its concepts inevitably bear the traces of its manmade origins". [4]

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The better an artwork is understood … , the more obscure its constitutive enigmaticalness [konstitutiv Rätselhaftes] becomes… . If a work opens itself completely, it reveals itself as a question and demands re ection; then the work vanishes into the distance, only to return to those who thought they understood it, overwhelming them for a second time with the question, 'What is it?’

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Art can be understood only by its laws of movement, not according to any set of invariants.

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Art is historical exclusively by way of individual works that have taken shape in themselves, not by their external association, not even through the in uence that they purportedly exert over each other.

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The XX century ful lled its cultural mission-it completed the process of transition from the epoch of “large styles” to pluralism;

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During the second half of the XX century, the entire possible range of architectural styles have been formed and implemented.

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The de ning feature of the architecture in the XX century is its conceptual variety;

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https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.388.3544&rep=rep1&type=pdf

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https://www.cairn.info/revue-internationale-de-philosophie-2004-1-page-85.htm

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https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/the-beginning-of-modern-architecture/

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https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/dematerialization/

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https://www.archdaily.com/596081/ciam-4-and-the-unanimous-origins-of-modernist-urban-planning

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https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/functionalism/

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https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/rtf-architectural-reviews/a3348-theory-in-architecture-functionalism/

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https://www.passbooksonline.com/book/9789462081536

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuralism_(architecture)

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https://technologystudent.com/pdf12/de_stijlcard1.pdf

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https://www.architecture.com/explore-architecture/modernism

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https://www.thoughtco.com/modernism-picture-dictionary-4065245

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https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/art-and-aesthetics-after-adorno/

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https://designmanifestos.org/congres-internationaux-darchitecture-moderne-ciam-the-athens-charter/

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https://modernistarchitecture.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/le-corbusier’s-“ciam-2-1929”-1929/